Robotic surgical systems have been used in minimally invasive medical procedures. Some robotic surgical systems include a console and multiple robot arms. Surgical instruments that included an end effector, such as forceps or a grasping tool, were mountable to one or more of the robot arms. The robot arms provided mechanical power to a surgical instrument for its operation and movement. Each robot arm may include an instrument drive unit that is operatively connected to the surgical instrument.
Robotic surgical systems have included three or more robots arms usable during surgery. These arms were positioned at different locations alongside a patient to enable the instruments at the end of the arms to be inserted in different trocars. In some instances each of the arms were mounted directly to the surgical table on which the patient was positioned for surgery. In other instances the arms were mounted to movable carts that were wheeled to a desired position alongside the surgical table.
These mounting options required the use of position sensors and other components to identify the location of each arm relative to the other arms and/or a camera during the positioning of the arms. This added to the cost and complexity of the robot arms. Additionally, it was difficult to create a universal interface for securely mounting the robot arms to different types of surgical tables to prevent the arms from inadvertently moving during surgery.
There is a need for positioning surgical robot arms in a way that the relative position of each arm to the other arms and/or a camera may be ascertained without additional position sensors or other components. There is also a need for securely fixing the position of the robot arms independent of the surgical table being used so that the arms are less likely to move during surgery.